Author Chat with Ellen Hopkins

Today I'm sharing my interview with Ellen Hopkins, author of Traffick! But first I'd like to introduce you to this literary duo.

Meet Ellen.

Ellen Hopkins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Crank, Burned, Impulse, Glass, Identical, Tricks, Fallout, Perfect, Tilt, Smoke, and Rumble, as well as the adult novels Triangles, Collateral, and the forthcoming Love Lies Beneath. She lives with her family in Carson City, Nevada, where she has founded Ventana Sierra, a nonprofit youth housing and resource initiative. Visit her at EllenHopkins.com and on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter at @EllenHopkinsYA. For more information on Ventana Sierra, go to VentanaSierra.org.

Five teens victimized by sex trafficking try to find their way to a new life in this riveting companion to the New York Times bestselling Tricks from Ellen Hopkins, author of Crank.

In her bestselling novel, Tricks, Ellen Hopkins introduced us to five memorable characters tackling these enormous questions: Eden, the preacher’s daughter who turns tricks in Vegas and is helped into a child prostitution rescue; Seth, the gay farm boy disowned by his father who finds himself without money or resources other than his own body; Whitney, the privileged kid coaxed into the life by a pimp and whose dreams are ruined in a heroin haze; Ginger, who runs away from home with her girlfriend and is arrested for soliciting an undercover cop; and Cody, whose gambling habit forces him into the life, but who is shot and left for dead.

And now, in Traffick, these five are faced with the toughest question of all: Is there a way out? How these five teenagers face the aftermath of their decisions and experiences is the soul of this story that exposes the dark, ferocious underbelly of the child trafficking trade. Heartwrenching and hopeful, Traffick takes us on five separate but intertwined journeys through the painful challenges of recovery, rehabilitation, and renewal to forgiveness and love. All the way home. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.biz/Traffick/Ellen-Hopkins/9781442482876#sthash.QSobMVTn.dpuf

With introductions in order, it's time to CHAT!

Kayla King: At the end of TRICKS, the stories of Cody, Eden, Ginger, Seth, and Whitney were left unfinished. What made you decide to return to these characters after four years?

Ellen Hopkins: Every sequel I’ve ever written took a few years to percolate, often fueled by reader demand. There was lots of reader demand to TRAFFICK. Plus sometimes characters just won’t leave my head. It was time to revisit them.

KK: Of the five, which character has been the easiest to write for? And which character was the most difficult?

EH: In this book, Cody was the hardest to write because the technical information I had to provide about spinal cord injury couldn’t get in the way of his inner turmoil, so it was a balancing act. Plus, it required a ton of research. I watched hours of videos. Eden was the easiest because her love story resonated and I really wanted to give her the redemption she deserved.

KK: In TRAFFICK, how important was it to depict the aftermath of the choices made by your characters?

EH: I worked a lot with survivors of sex trafficking and truly wanted readers to understand that surviving and creating a positive future is definitely possible. Some choices are hard to recover from, but never impossible.

KK: What do you hope readers will take from this sequel?

EH: I hope readers will come to understand the power of love. It is the greatest healer of all.

KK: What are your favorite books of the year?

EH: Jandy Nelson’s I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN and a book by debut YA author Craig Lew called BREATH TO BREATH.

A big thanks to Ellen Hopkins for this enlightening interview! Now read on for the latest giveaway below!

Entering is simple, just fill out the entry form below. During this giveaway, Ellen has a question for readers. Here is the question they'll be answering in the comments below for extra entries: Why do you think the author chose to spell the book title TRAFFICK with the added “K”?

*Click the Rafflecopter link to enter the giveaway*

Kayla Kingis a writer of poetry and fiction. She is the Blog Manager and Staff Reviewer at YABC, which means she loves to read and review books! She is an editor for 1:1000 and as such, reads great stories and contributes a new piece of flash fiction every month, and is a permanent writer for Germ Magazine. Kayla graduated from Buffalo State College with her B.A. in Writing and is currently pursuing her MFA from Southern New Hampshire University. You can find her website and blog here.

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